Conflicting Objectives XII

John and his group returned to their main mission after securing the cavity where dead body of one of the Future crewmates was found.

Majority of the team was involved in investigating the area they were currently in, while Marlow returned to his previous task of navigating through the further route, using one of the drones, guarded by sarge Krawczak now.

Before major was interrupted, route check was going slowly, but with a gradual progress. However, right now, John was faced with a challenge to re-establish the connection to the bot - of course, after their previous adventure underground, electromagnetic activity in the area was stabilized, yet it did not mean there was absolutely no interference anymore, rather than that, there were spots where signal could not properly get through.

- This is what exactly I was worried about - Marlow murmured to himself, working on picking up a signal from the drone - It's hard to re-sync again.

- Doesn't look well? - Andy asked after hearing John talking - Shouldn't we have a second drone once Martin gets it fixed?

- That's right, but we cannot take it for granted - major replied - Of course, I trust Martin, and know he is going to get the other one operational. Still, we haven't reached the target area yet, and being down to only single drone at this point is really risky.

 - We are really careful, and here we are, nothing serious happening so far. I know I shouldn't say it, but it feels it's going quite smooth, without major problems. Well, maybe aside from this accident you had just before.

- And that's what worries me. Even if we take this possible ghast into consideration, and these traps we were able to pass, this was quite smooth sailing until now. Remembering my previous visit here, it's way too quiet, and I don't think getting comfortable here is going to help us.

- But honestly, major, what kind of place it is? We went through a number of rooms, and - aside from some appliances - it is mostly empty space all around. I cannot understand what would you use such space for.

Marlow shrugged.

- Neither do I. At least for now, that is. I found some energy veins here and there, and one side interface, definitely not the main one. I have some ideas, though saying anything for sure is not possible at this point.

- The place was abandoned for some reason, but there is so many things still operational. I find it crazy for anyone to leave the place like that. Like, even the state of the interior - aside from this dirt we got inside by opening the door, it's unusually clean for a place long left inhabited.

 - That's most likely due to automated systems remaining functional, though you are right it's not a typical thing to leave the place in such a state. It almost feels like someone left home just temporarily to return shortly, and yet, here we are, at least several hundred years from the moment this planet was left by the creators of this facility, based on the analysis our people made, of course. This assessment relies on the state of outer areas where plants managed to invade into spots previously used by alien facilities, so it really can be a different amount of time, but it is definitely not a recent thing. Either way, enough chitchat, I got signal.

John could see the usual interface shared upon connecting to the drone. It seemed that sudden interruption caused the drone's system to freeze, therefore he had to start with a reboot to get all the functions working again as there was no visual available.

- Ok, let's see if this is going to help - Marlow continued talking to himself as he was running some additional diagnostics on the bot - C'mon, don't tell me you broke - most of the systems were back up, and yet there was still a problem with the visuals - Okay, then maybe the secondary optics override - he tinkered a bit further, and then - Yes, it's back alive.

The drone was sending the footage to John's PEC again, and the first thing he noticed was that the drone was lying on its back, which was not the position he left it in - a bit of an alarming sight, though not necessarily a sign of ghasts' or someone else's activity.

Drone could roll down some slope after being left turned off and not having support of all legs set evenly, or it could have electromagnetic activity affecting the metal bot like a magnet. Yet, whatever he thought, he was unable to deny the possibility of someone or something bumping into the drone - still, it would have been quite unusual for anyone or anything hostile to left such a finding intact, and the bot was still active and not damaged.

While having this information in the back of his head, Marlow put the drone back on its legs and continued looking for a way to the spot where they previously left Jackie's body as it could possibly where one of control interfaces is located.

Due to the layout of the area changing during their escape when John and few others entered the facility, it was hard for him to find a way around even with the route recordings he had registered on his PEC. It was a trial and error approach he was going with when proceeding into the direction of where the body was supposed to be located - he could not rely on Jackie's localizer too as there seemed to be no longer matching signal broadcast coming from the device, most likely due to damage, or at least that was Marlow's assumption.

Whatever happened to the localizer, he still needed to pinpoint their destination to draw a route they should take in order to get there, and that meant taking different turns in this undergound maze, which required backtracking quite often, while hoping no creature or machine, or anything else will jump from the shadows and destroy the drone, rendering the group unable to map the way without involving live personnel, unless Martin managed to restore the secondary bot. And, even when the secondary drone becomes available, it would still require time to get back to the spot where he currently was, so it was important to get things done with what he had right now.

Fortunately, after about one hour of having the bot walking around the maze, John finally reached the spot which was just by the coordinates he had marked for the location of Jackie's body. However, he soon faced a problem - there seemed to be nothing other than walls all around, and he could not notice any path leading further.

- C'mon, don't tell me there is no way through - Marlow murmured to himself - Why would anyone create a route leading to nothing but dead ends?

He tried doing scans that are not relying on optics, but the metal used for creation of the walls in this labyrinth was blocking majority of bot's systems. Yet, one of the scans, though it did not find obvious route through, displayed an unusual abnormality in one specific section of the wall, suggesting the material applied for this panel - or whatever aliens would have called it - differed from the rest, and was showing similar readings to the fluid, black metal John encountered before.

Using the drone, he went closer to this sepcific spot and used the spider-like leg of the bot to touch the wall - unfortunately, nothing happened, but John remembered that this unusual metal would only react to the touch of the skin, as if only accepting biological input. It was both good and bad information at the same time - good part was that there could be a possibility of opening a path leading further, bad was that opening the path required someone to actually go there to activate the interface if it was actually available as Marlow assumed. Moreover, even after having interface opened they would still need to figure out how to operate it.

- Now I regret not taking Keira with us - he thought to himself, knowing miss Evergate was the best specialist for deciphering the alien language they had, and these weird panels were affecting their comms.

Given the situation, they could either attempt to proceed on their own, which could ultimately pose them with a problem if there is no interface or operating it is needed, or send someone back to bring Keira to help with this matter, though this approach meant using even more time and being exposed to potential dangers on the way.

With the amount of time they already spent underground, and the longer stay not considered to be completely safe, John had to make a quick decision rather than spending longer on figuring out what would be the best scenario.

Ultimately, he cut the connection to the drone, and turned to sarge Krawczak.

- Call the others, please - he told the soldier - We need to discuss our further steps.

The rest of the group appeared within a matter of several minutes.

- Did you manage to reach the interface? - Martin asked that, joining last with the fixed drone with him - Are we going to walk in there?

Marlow scratched his head, still not fully convinced if the choice he made was a good idea.

- I reached the end of the path, but not the interface - John started explaining - There seems to be a kind of a dead end just next to the target, making it impossible to get past that point with a drone. However, I found a spot within a wall that seems to be made of the same material as the interfaces we encountered before.

- You mean this metal that changes shape? - Johnson followed up with another question.

- Yes, that's my assumption based on the readings I got from the drone's sensors.

- Assumption? - Rashid did not seem satisfied with the answer - Are you going to tell us we are going in there, not knowing if we can actually get through? Can't you just check it somehow before we go in?

Marlow shook his head.

- I'd love to, but this material did not react with other metal ever before, so I couldn't really force any reaction with the drone - he clarified the reason to Moussa - The only way we can check it is by going there in person, that's why I called you here. Just let me be clear here - we won't have everyone going, I have no intention of forcing anyone.

- In other words, it's about who volunteers to go there? - Alina joined in the conversation - You can obviously count on me. I'm not backing off, I want to find Jackie's body.

- And I won't let you go there alone - said Martin - I can't let you get lost again.

It was already enough for the science part of the team, so he still needed some military support, but before he turned to Andy, the man stepped forward:

- Someone needs to make sure everyone's safe.

John felt a huge relief he had enough people gathered within such a short amount of time, without the need to point at someone and forcing them to take risks.

- Is everyone else fine with staying behind? - he turned to the rest of the group - We need someone to stand guard by the entrance, while others can proceed with their recent tasks.

They spent a few more minutes deciding on individual assignments and who will be responsible for any of the two groups they were making - frontline one was obviously under John, and Rashid took the steer for those staying back.

Having made sure everything was in place for splitting the team, Marlow led his party into the maze.